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samarakroeger's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
in many ways, Catherine House reminded me of The Idiot, one of my favorite reads of this year. no plot, just vibes. passive main character. the plot: mentally ill (and slightly delusional) mc goes to elite college. both set in the mid 1990s, although that was more apparent to me in ~vibe~ in The Idiot than in Catherine House. however, I LOVED The Idiot and thought this was just okay, and I think part of that is that the satire and humor in Batuman's writing was sorely missing here. Thomas failed to really make any sort of critique of academia and I couldn't really find the point in the book. you could say that The Idiot is the light academia version of this supposedly dark academia book.
anywho, I didn't care about the "mystery" and was not impressed by the reveals, which could have been much creepier. I don't really see anything majorly wrong with the book per se, but I certainly didn't love it.
Graphic: Death, Confinement, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Gaslighting
yaizacanopoli's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Blood, Confinement, Cursing, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Grief, Car accident, Emotional abuse, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Mental illness
gravesandyearning's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
Graphic: Medical content
Moderate: Death, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, and Grief
Minor: Alcohol
genny's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
The story is slow-paced and the characters' daily lives feel almost "empty"; all the creepy stuff happens in the background while the protagonist mostly floats on by...until things get too hard to ignore. There is a heavy gothic atmosphere and while we do get dreamy days wandering the school grounds, the students here are desperate, all trying to escape their own lives within Catherine's walls. I'm torn on whether all the snippets of Ines and her friends were necessary. I loved Yaya, though.
Catherine House is a haunting look at how people can hold immense loyalty for an institution that may not deserve such devotion. And yet, somehow it's also a love letter to one's university days, an understanding of the nostalgia. Give it a chance if "slow and depressing" doesn't put you off 😆
Graphic: Confinement, Mental illness, Alcohol, Forced institutionalization, and Abandonment
Moderate: Death, Grief, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Sexual content, and Vomit
raen99's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.75
Graphic: Alcohol and Mental illness
Moderate: Animal cruelty and Confinement
jjames_mal's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I was really into this book for maybe the first half. Everything was super tense and mysterious, and I found it very interesting to learn about this creepy school. But the book just kept going. And going. I legit didn't think the author was going to spend most of the book describing several YEARS of students taking classes, with only a handful of sentences in every other chapter that moved the plot forward, but that's exactly what happened. (Maybe this is just a facet of dark academia as a genre, but I am not a fan).
I especially found this annoying because I actually really liked the plot. I liked the mystery and the discovery. The characters were interesting, and I liked how they developed. The writing style was pretty good, and I think Elisabeth Thomas really nailed the atmosphere. But ultimately that wasn't enough for me to be able to keep my attention on this book. It honestly took me months to finish. And even though I liked it overall, with just the amount of tedium I went through, it became a sometimes interesting but mostly mediocre read.
Graphic: Grief, Confinement, Death, Medical content, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content and Drug use
marcostorin's review
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Death, Alcohol, Confinement, and Mental illness
Moderate: Body horror, Medical trauma, Animal cruelty, Sexual assault, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Vomit
cinnamon_'s review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
• mental health awareness (ish) and queer representation
- writing style was good just not my favourite
° it was not really horror (although definitely gothic)
Graphic: Gaslighting and Mental illness
Minor: Death
penofpossibilities's review
3.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Gaslighting, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, and Confinement
Moderate: Animal death, Sexual content, Grief, and Alcohol
Minor: Kidnapping, Death, and Sexual violence
kalina2005's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Confinement, Dysphoria, Forced institutionalization, and Mental illness